TechExpo 2014 aims to educate

May 14, 2014

Jason Stamm was awarded the Chairman’s Award during TechExpo. The show was geared toward education for those in the tech industry, as well as sharing ideas and advancements in the field. / Mike Ewan/Tallahassee Democrat

Written by

Adrianna Vidal

Contributing Writer

Encompassing the theme of “Entrepreneurship, Education, & Enlightenment” the seventh annual TechExpo was held this past Thursday, May 8 at Florida State University’s Turnbull Conference Center.

Sponsored by CenturyLink, the conference was presented by Tallahassee Technology Alliance with the intention of engaging with business owners and business leaders throughout the community. The conference sought to attract new-comers and people considering owning and operating businesses to gain insight into the technology behind a successful business.

“This year’s TechExpo [was] all about providing support and education to those who own or run a business, as well as giving ‘tricks of the trade’ to those who aspire to be business leaders,” said TalTech Chairman Marc Paul. “We want to ensure that Tallahassee residents have the information and technology they need to succeed as entrepreneurs.”

“Techies” came together this past week in order to exchange new ideas on up and coming technological advances, tips on how to better increase the profits, including money-saving ideas and how to better manage time as a company owners by focusing on the most efficient forms of communication.

From current successful business owners to current students, everyone that attended had the chance to gain networking relations with one another mixing a new perspective with past successes.

Through the TE3 theme of “Entrepreneurship, Education & Enlightenment” conference topics were broken up amongst the theme’s three core values. The event highlighted topics such as economic thinking, instructional and mobile technologies, workplace efficiency and the basics of entrepreneurship, including how to start a business through models.

Each track had a specific focus–Entrepreneurship focused on a broader view of how to improve or build a company through updated technology, Education sought to inform people of the best and newest forms of technology today on the market and how to use it the most efficiently and Enlightenment was grounded in supply people with the advancements that are to come in the technological world and how this will impact the future of business models.

With this breakdown of topics into smaller, more focused areas, people were able to break into groups that best served their personal and professional goals as business leaders.

In addition to breakout sections, speakers from across the country were invited, including key note speaker Skyler Vander Molen, an FSU Alumnus and Communication Designer at Facebook. Speakers were invited with the intention of creating a network between famous public figures and locals to strengthen and build expertise.

Participants that utilize social media platforms with the intention to seek new potential customers or to strengthen relationships with current customers were eligible and encouraged to apply for the Social Media Achieving Real Time Enriched Relations Award. The S.M.A.R.T.E.R Award seeks to recognize companies that successfully use social media platforms to reach out to their customers in an attempt to enlighten other building companies on the tools needed to be successful in this new form of advertisement.

The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Award has been given for the past two years with the sponsorship of Digital Opps, which is the marketing sector for RB Oppenheim Associates. This award was open for application through May 2 and available to any local, government, not-for-profits or other businesses who believed they best engaged their customers through social media.